There is a book called
"A Brief History of Time". It?s written by Professor Stephen Hawking.
He is well known for being a brilliant physicist. But not just that ? to get
there, he had to overcome having motor neuron disease, which confines him to
a wheelchair and means that he needs a voice synthesizer to speak. In this book,
Hawking tries to explain some amazingly complicated theories, from Newton and
Einstein and his own research. His book gives these theories to us in a way
that almost makes them able to be understood, if you study the book really hard.

In the final chapter, he
points out that science is only trying to describe, and predict, what the universe
is, and how it works. It does not say much about why it would even exist in
the first place. But he thinks that if science can come up with a final, all-encompassing
theory, only then will everyone be able to discuss that question of why we exist.
And Hawking says that if we worked that out, "we would know the mind of
God".

Well, I'm not going to
give us a physics lesson. Which is just as well, because I'm hardly qualified.
But I can tell you all a bit about the mind of God, from what he has told us
himself in the Bible. And a bit about how we can tap into that mind, and have
a mind like God?s in many ways.

Let?s look at three things:

How God thinks.
What we should think.
Knowing what God knows.

1. HOW GOD THINKS

God?s thoughts are eternal
? in effect, he must not need to think new thoughts as such ? he already knows!
He does not need to see something happen then decide what to do about it, because
he always foreknew it would happen. Like the Bible says, "God is not a
man that he should change his mind" [Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29]. Despite
this, in the Bible he reveals to us one aspect at a time of his unchanging thoughts
and feelings, as if he had just thought of something. He does this to help us
understand him and to relate to him.

Can you imagine what it
would be like to think like God does? It?s impossible of course ? God declares
in Isaiah 55:9, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts". But still, he
does give us access into his thoughts.

We can possess a reflection
of God?s omniscience, or knowing everything. We can have some foreknowledge
of what will happen just by normal learning and thinking ahead, as we consider
God?s Word. And sometimes God might choose to give you foreknowledge by a special
revelation, miraculously telling you something that you could not have known
about the future if he hadn't told you.

But one aspect of his foreknowledge
that we can all definitely adopt is to not worry about the future. God is never
stressed. He always knows that he has everything under control, even if we sometimes
forget. He has purpose and direction in what he does.

Another thing God does
not do, and we shouldn't either, is rationalize. We all do it? making our thoughts
line up with what we want, trying to justify doing something when we know it
is wrong. Think about the Old Testament account of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
[Daniel 3: c15-18]. They were captives in a foreign land, and the king was telling
them to bow down and worship a gold statue, otherwise they would be killed.
They could have given any number of excuses: ?We will bow, but not actually
worship it; We'll just do it this one time, that won't make us idol worshippers;
We're not hurting anyone; If we don't do it, we'll be killed, and then we won't
be able to help the other Jewish captives". Instead however, they chose
to obey God's command not to worship idols, no matter what the cost, even though
they knew God might allow them to be killed. And as many of you would know,
God honored them by miraculously saving them from being killed.

In this case, it was clear
that doing the act would be sin? it would break the second of the Ten Commandments!
Maybe your situation is not so obvious. Or maybe it is obvious, but not to you,
because you have blinded yourself to God?s clear commands. You have let your
judgment be clouded, by selfishness or by putting some other person before God.
Although right and wrong is not always clear, don't put aside the firm truth
of God's laws with feeble and transparent rationalizing.

2. WHAT WE SHOULD THINK

With that background of
how God thinks, let's look at what he thinks, and how he wants us to be like
him.

God certainly wants the
way that we think, to change when we become his people, and to keep being changed
as we grow more like him. In Ephesians 4:23 it says to "be made new in
the attitude of your minds". In Romans 12:2 it says "Do not conform
any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is."
You need to pray, then put your mind to work knowing that he will guide your
thoughts.

You've heard the saying
"Too heavenly minded and no earthly use". We can't be so caught up
in great and lofty ideas that we do nothing about what is around us. Yet God
commands us to be guided in what we do, by thinking about heaven' as the next
life for us to look forward to, and as where Jesus rules from, right now. The
Bible presents the contrast between a mind fixed on earthly things, and a mind
set on heaven.

Firstly, Philippians 3:18,19
says: "many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction,
their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is
on earthly things." So without God in your head, you're against Jesus and
you?re on your way to punishment even if the possibility has never crossed
your mind. And what do people without God on their minds think about? They have
a "god" of sorts? the idol of whatever appeals to physical pleasure, if it
feels good, do it, as if they worship their own guts. And the things that
should make them ashamed are actually what they are proud of. Have you ever
heard someone laughing about how drunk they got the other night?

Contrast that with Colossians
3:1-14: "Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things
above, where Christ is. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ. Put to death whatever
belongs to your earthly nature. You have put on the new self, which is being
renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator? Clothe yourselves with
virtues." We are to have our thinking based on Jesus, and his glory.

You might say, "What
harm can it do just to think about certain things. I won't actually do them!"
But like the fact that you are what you eat, you are what you think too. You
become whatever you meditate on. Like it says in Romans 13:14, "do not
think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature". And Jesus
taught that looking at someone lustfully is committing adultery with them in
your heart [Matthew 5].

2 Corinthians 10:5 says,
"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against
the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient
to Christ". Take your thoughts captive, before they take you captive! Otherwise
they may keep you from being satisfied or happy. They may make you bitter or
jealous. They even may turn into dysfunctional thinking over time and leave
you in need of psychiatric help! So take them captive, using what God has given
you.

You need to give God not
just the occasional thought, but your way of thinking. This is because God deserves
more than just an occasional thought. And God deserves our constant praise,
out of love, not just our requests out of need. But as well as that, the occasional
thought won't make you ready for when a crisis hits; you may not be able to
deal with it, because it hits you hard and fast, and your response needs to
come automatically, not with effort and time. Here's a quote from the book "My
Utmost for His Highest" [April 1] "If a burden and its resulting pressure
come upon us while we are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce
a hardness toward God and a despair in our own souls."

I personally found this
to be true recently. My wife and I are building a house in Brisbane. A couple
of months ago we were still in the process of buying the land, and due to certain
delays there was the very real threat that the land developer would cancel our
contract, keep our deposit and sell the land to someone else. Even though we
had already come so far in getting the loan and starting the builder's documentation.
I have to admit, I was stressed. And since this was happening while I was at
work, I was possibly giving my own purchase file too much time, and letting
clients' files suffer.

What I should have remembered
were Bible verses - rejoice in the Lord always; have no anxiety, but pray in
all situations and God's peace will guard your heart and mind [Philippians 4:4,
6 & 7], and other relevant verses. And the way that we had prayed when finding
the land and builder, that God would guide us in entering into those contracts.
But they were not in my way of thinking at the time. You might think, "Oh well,
those things are hard to trust in when you are actually in the situation". That's
sometimes true, but my main problem was that I too busy worrying to even remember
those verses.

When you see someone who
is clear-headed in confusing times, and cool when the heat is on, maybe they
have God?s peace. Sometimes God's peace, and other blessings, are obtained simply
as a natural consequence of trusting what he has told us. Not necessarily a
direct calming intervention by the Holy Spirit, although he can do that, but
the fact that it makes sense to not worry.

To live out God's way of
thinking, you need to put in the time for it to become part of the way you think,
part of the assumptions and values you automatically reach for in dealing with
situations that arise. Where you know you have a particular problem in your
life, memorize relevant verses and say them over to yourself several times a
day. And imagine or visualize yourself handling the situation the right way.
Then when you enter that situation suddenly, you are more prepared. Do your
best, but rely on God to use your efforts.

To some extent, getting
your thoughts to line up with God's is a process. God will use situations and
experiences you have to mature you, to the point where you have the same attitude,
perspective and discernment as him in that area. You need to just do the good
things you know you should do, until they become automatic and natural, and
anything else seems strange or even distasteful. Practice what you learn. It's
like learning to drive a car at first you need to learn to think about checking
for other cars, and changing gears. But as time goes on, you don't even have
to think about it, you just do it.

It is a change of character,
not just actions. But forcing some action out of yourself can prime the pump
of motivation, and then that motivation causes more action to flow. And God
often only gives us strength and success when we get off our butts and at least
start to do what he has told us to.

It isn't easy. In Romans
7:23, 25; 8:5-7, Paul discusses the struggle within us. He says that a Christian
is a slave to God's law in their mind, but a slave to the law of sin in the
sinful nature at work in our bodies. But Jesus died to set us free. We need
to live in accordance with the Holy Spirit, by having our minds set on what
he desires, which leads to life and peace; not having our minds set on what
our sinful nature desires, which leads to death.

To commit ourselves this
fully to thinking God's way, we need to trust what he says. Even though some
of God's thoughts seem too radical, as if they can't be true, until we look
into them. One example is in James 1:2. It says, "Consider it pure joy,
whenever you face trials of many kinds". It sounds bizarre to get ecstatic
about pain, but there is a reason there that sees through the trouble to the
result - the testing of your faith develops your character. Do you really believe
the promises and truths that God has shown you?

To summarize, ask yourself:
are you serious about living the way God wants you to? Then put some thought
into it!

3. KNOWING WHAT GOD
KNOWS

Lastly, as well as the
moral ways in which we can think like God, we can tap into the understanding
God has ? what God knows. Whether it is in theology, or in looking at our lives.

I think sometimes we Christians
have to ask ourselves... do Christians use their brains? We should, and we can.
But do we? We must not leave our brains at the door when we come to church.
And we must not let the sermons and Bible studies go in one ear and out the
other, week in and week out.

If we really care about
people going to hell, we need to think through our beliefs and make sure we
can explain them. Do an Apologetics course if you can. For example, when someone
says that Christianity is fine for you, but something else is better for them,
what would you say? Would you realize that this is an attack on the idea of
absolute truth, and be able to give a simple explanation to show that both can't
be right?

Next, God knows what Satan
is up to, and 2 Corinthians 2:11 says that we Christians are not unaware of
Satan?s schemes. Are you aware of what he is up to? Or is ignorance bliss? Do
you notice when there is disunity in the church, or a lack of forgiveness, or
people doing things that do more harm than good, and do you realize it can be
Satan's attempt to disrupt God?s work? Do you quickly and tactfully do something
about it? Paul warned the people in Corinth [1 Corinthians 14:20] to stop thinking
like children and start thinking like adults, when it comes to this sort of
thing.

God's knowledge does not
only show us what to think about other people, or about our beliefs. It is also
about how you see yourself. For example, if you think of yourself as worthless,
God has to disagree! The Bible is full of great affirmations of the position
we get if we give our lives to Christ. We are adopted as God's children, and
we are being made into the likeness of his perfect son Jesus. On the other hand,
if you think you are without sin and don?t need forgiveness, God says you?re
fooling yourself [1 John 1:8].

Knowing what God knows
also affects what you desire and pursue in life, the things that guide your
thinking. God has love for you that cannot be taken away, and he invites you
to live for him and find the role he has for you. When you know that God is
supplying these two great needs everyone has, secure love and significant things
to do, you don't need to chase them elsewhere. This leaves you free to choose
what is best in life, not just desperately turning to anything that offers some
promise of making you feel satisfied.

In tapping into God's knowledge,
there is also the question people often raise about God?s guidance. Psalm 25:4,
5, 8, 9, 14, 15 has a lot to say about guidance. If you fear God, and put your
hope in him, and stay humble, then God will confide in you and teach you the
way he has chosen for you. God's knowledge is way beyond our ability, but we
have the exciting privilege of being able to access it! When we follow his leading,
we sometimes do things for reasons we do not even know until later, but that
leading is based on what God knows and we can trust what he has planned.

CONCLUSION & GOSPEL

To finish, Stephen Hawking
is undoubtably brilliant. But he is wrong, if he really does think that the
mind of God can be discovered through mathematical formula. There are secrets
to be discovered about the tiniest atoms and the largest and most distant planets.
But to God, that creation thing was all in a week's work. I can tell you what
is most on God's mind, because he has told us. His main concern is for our souls
into eternity, and our relationship to him.

One time, Jesus had been
teaching his disciples about his upcoming suffering and death. Peter took him
aside and tried to talk him out of it, but Jesus rebuked him. Jesus said, "Get
behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things
of men." [Mark 8:33]. Peter had unwittingly let himself be a tool of Satan.
It can happen to you too, if you are not on your guard against letting your
thinking be guided by your own selfish whims or pursuits, and by Satan's influence,
rather than by God. Peter had tried to stand in the way of Jesus? sacrificial
death, not thinking that this was God's wise way of bringing salvation.

God calls us to give our
thinking and our lives to him, to trust in Jesus' death for us and Jesus? return
from the dead, and to have that change of direction of our minds called repentance
from sin. When this happens, as well as getting eternal life, we have access
to the mind of God.

PRAYER

Let's pray: "Dear
God. We praise you for your amazing thoughts. We thank you that the main thing
on your mind is not the universe, but your love for us. Help us to become more
like you in our thinking, bringing peace, and right actions, and wisdom, into
our lives. In Christ's name. Amen."

- Jeremiah 7:31; 19:5
God re: practice of sacrificing children to idols - "something I did not
command or mention, nor did it enter my mind".

- God can even cause confusion
and anxiety in someone's mind... He said so in Moses? warnings to the Israelites
of what would happen if they disobeyed! [Deuteronomy 28:28, 65.]

- Hebrews 10:24 says "let
us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds"
put some thought into it.

Point 3

- God can also give wisdom
and knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature. He did it for Daniel
[1:4, 17; 2:21].

- In 1 Corinthians 2:11,
14, 16 Paul says that we Christians have the mind of Christ. He says that it
is only when we have the Holy Spirit that we can understand the things that
God tells us, because it is only God's Spirit who knows God's thoughts.

Guidance - Idea that
God is not trying to hide his will from you, contrary to how it may appear sometimes.

- We have the privilege
of being let in on what God plans to do. In John 15:15, Jesus said that Christians
are not just in a situation of "do as you're told", but are given insight. (Although
in the specific details, sometimes God allows a test of faith instead.) Also,
regarding his plans for the world overall - Ephesians 1:9, 10 ("made known
to us the mystery of His will"); angels long to see?

This article may be freely reproduced for
non-profit ministry
purposes but may not be sold in any way. For permission to use articles
in your ministry, e-mail the editor, John Edmiston at johned@aibi.ph.